Reciprocating internal combustion (IC) engines are known for converting chemical energy stored in a fuel supply into mechanical shaft power. A fuel-oxidizer mixture is received in a variable volume of an IC engine defined by a piston translating within a cylinder bore. The fuel-oxidizer mixture burns inside the variable volume to convert chemical energy in the mixture into heat. In turn, expansion of the combustion products within the variable volume performs work on the piston, which may be transferred to an output shaft of the IC engine.
Various combinations of IC engines, electrical generators, and electric motors are known for composing electric hybrid powertrains. In a serial hybrid powertrain, shaft power from an IC engine is coupled with an electric generator for producing electrical energy, but the shaft power is not directly coupled to a load via a mechanical transmission. Further according to serial electric hybrid designs, work is performed on loads by electric motors receiving power from the electric generator, an energy storage device (e.g., an electric battery), or both. In a series-parallel hybrid powertrain, shaft power from an IC engine is coupled to both an electric generator and a load via a mechanical transmission, such that work is performed on the load by shaft power from the engine, electrical power from the generator, electrical power from an energy storage device, or combinations thereof.
US Patent Publication No. 2012/0273288 (the '288 publication), entitled “Hybrid Vehicle,” relates to a technology for collecting exhaust energy of an engine in a hybrid vehicle. The '288 publication purports to describe a hybrid vehicle capable of running using an engine and a motor as drive sources, including an exhaust turbine to be driven and rotated by exhaust of the engine; a generator which generates power by being driven and rotated by the exhaust turbine; and a power supply unit which supplies electric power generated by the generator to a motor.
The crankshaft of the engine and the motor of the '288 publication are arranged on the same axis, and torques from the engine and the motor are transmitted in the same rotational manner to the transmission. However, arranging the motor on the same axis as the crankshaft of the engine may not suit some applications, but instead impose undue constraint on the cost, complexity, packaging, and operability of a hybrid vehicle so configured. Accordingly, the present disclosure addresses the aforementioned problems and/or other problems in the art.